PROWOOD
FP7Project - No 202967 - SP4 Capacities / Financed by the European Commission

        Starting with May 2008, the Faculty of Wood Industry in Brasov is partner in a new international project, coordinated by the German firm ZENIT. The main aim of the project is to promote wood industry and to strengthen the links between research and industry in the regions of Romania (Covasna being the region chosen as pilot for this project), by using the expertise and good practice from other wood clusters already created in different countries of the European Union. Beside the economic effects at regional level, it is also expected that the creation of this cluster will support the integration of the region in the EU area.

What is a 'cluster'?
        Literally, a cluster is a group of the same or similar elements gathered or occurring closely together; a bunch. From an economic perspective a cluster is a network of manufactures, suppliers, research institutions (e.g. universities), service providers (e.g. software engineers) and related institutions (e.g. chamber of commerce). They are all characterized by the focus on the same type of sector and a spatial proximity.
        The network cooperates along the value chain and their members pursue similar interests.
        The basic requirements for the success of a cluster arethe will to cooperate and to share knowledge!

        The project forms a well-balanced and efficient consortium of 8 partners from 4 countries: Germany, France, Finland and Romania. The partners were chosen so that all main actors are represented:
        - experts in the formation of clusters - reknown research institutes from EU countries (ZENIT and
        Fraunhofer-Germany, CRITT-France and TTS-Finland)
        - responsible for the know-how transfer towards Romanian project partners;
        - beneficiaries of the know-how transfer - the productive sector specific to wood industry in Covasna
        region (represented by ASIMCOV Covasna), the "Transilvania" University of Brasov
        - as research and education institution which will be able to take over in future the development of other clusters in Romania, according to this model;
        - other institutions, having the role of sustaining the implementation at local level - the Chamber of Commerce Covasna and for disseminating the results at national level - INNO Consult Bucharest.

        The project duration is 2 years and it includes the following main stages:
        - May-November 2008: Analysis of present state - establishing on questionnaire basis the disponibility of technical and human resources in wood industry in Covasna county;
        - December 2008: Establishing a strategy (activity plan) for strengthening the cluster - through projects, training programs etc.;
        - January 2009 - May 2010: Implementation of this strategy and creation of a web platform.
In the following, we give a short introduction to the project coordinator - the German firm:

        Founded in 1984, ZENIT is the central innovation and technology transfer agency in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) in Germany. ZENIT's primary political vocation is to support the industrial structural change in the Land and in particular in the Ruhr valley by supporting the use of new technologies and innovations in SMEs in NRW. ZENIT's target groups comprise industrial enterprises, institutions and public administrations in Germany and other European countries.

        ZENIT has been dealing with Cluster Initiatives (CIs) since the days CIs have become an important part of structural policy. The staff of ZENIT supports the regional government of Nordrhein-Westfalen with all cluster related questions, it is supporting clusters itself and has made several comparative studies on cluster strategies. Furthermore ZENIT has developed a moderation methodology to transfer know how from good practice demand driven and action orientated.
        Furthermore ZENIT has profound knowledge of cluster concepts through various research and consultancy projects. ZENIT evaluated a number of clusters in Europe and identified policy approaches for the regional government. Regarding Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) experience, ZENIT has gained a profound knowledge in several projects, mainly in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and recently in Moldova. The projects are principally focused on technical assistance, technology transfer and regional development. ZENIT is also responsible for the overall project management that will be carried out by Mrs. Susanne JAKOBS, Mrs. Claudia MÜHLENFELD and Mr. Michael GUTH.

Susanne JAKOBS	Claudia MÜHLENFELD	Michael GUTH

        Susanne Jakobs has studied Social Science at the University of Duisburg (Germany) and at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest, Angers (France). After her studies she made an internship in an agency for Public Affairs, Research & Consulting in Brussels. In 2003 Susanne Jakobs joined ZENIT in order to work in projects in the field of regional innovation and cluster policy. Since December 2003 she is member of the Commission's expert group on regional foresight and contributed to the TRANSVISION foresight group, focusing on regions sharing common borders. Furthermore she effectuated an analysis of innovative clusters at European level and evaluated transferable approaches of good practice cluster policy for the Ministry of North Rhine Westphalia. In addition she has collaborated to the evaluation of innovative and social integrative cluster approaches in an international comparison on behalf of an organisation of the German Trade Union. Susanne manages an INCO project Future-For-MD to analyse possible future possibilities in the sector ICT and agro-food in the Republic of Moldova.

        Claudia Mühlenfeld has a degree in Political Sciences and is working for ZENIT since 2001. She gathered great experience in the field of structural innovation policy by designing and conducting European-wide studies regarding clusters, network or other types of regional innovation strategies. Subsequent to these studies she implemented workshops with regional experts to verify the transferability of examples of good practice to the Land of North Rhine Westphalia. Claudia also delivers consultancy in funding (regional, national, EU) to small and middle-sized companies. One other service she provides for small and middle-sized companies is the support for international co-operation (e.g. import/export, search for sales partners, strategy finding etc.).

        Michael Guth has a degree in political economics and business management. In 1991 he joined ZENIT where he started as a consultant. Areas of specialisation were innovation strategies, business diversification as well cluster analyses. He is an acknowledged expert to the Länder government in Nordrhein-Westfalen in innovation policy and Structural Funds issues. Between 2003 and 2005 he has conducted and supervised two major studies on the success factors of regional clusters. Under his auspices a good 30 European cluster initiatives were analysed and a specific transfer mechanism of transferable good practice was developed. Michael has also gained experiences in Eastern Europe. In Romania he has been working during the last three years in four different regions on the development of regional structures fostering technology transfer and innovation. At national level he is also contributing as an expert to the elaboration of a technology and innovation policy strategy in Romania.

        Within the next issue of PRO LIGNO Journal we will present all the other EU-partners, too - the wood research institutes FRAUNHOFER from Germany, CRITT from France and TTS from Finland - who will add to ZENIT's general experience with clusters their own experience concerning specifically wood clusters, thus ensuring a strong know-how transfer component within the PRO WOOD project.